


Black and White

by genderqueer_turtle



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Idk what exactly this is? Maybe a fantasy au?, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:28:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26692198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genderqueer_turtle/pseuds/genderqueer_turtle
Summary: Roman's the hero, Janus is the Villain. At least, that's how Roman has always seen him. But what if it wasn't that simple?
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders
Comments: 10
Kudos: 47





	Black and White

Roman was tired, warm from sweating in his princes suit, but he was also determined. That snake had to be brought down, Janus was evil.

"Tell me my dear prince," Janus' voice was song-like, almost enchanting. "Why do you insist on believing in the lies of good and evil, black and white? The world isn't like that."

"You're the one lying fiend! Good and evil are real, and you're evil!" Roman held up his sword, ready to continue fighting. But Janus lowered his, as if he was bored.

"And where did you learn that? Your father, who read you stories of damsels in distress and people whose only goal in life was to hurt? Those are fairy tales, not the real world. I want to survive, what do you want? What do you really want, not whatever hero nonsense you were going to say."

Roman slashed at his enemy, but Janus just stepped out of the way, putting little effort into defending himself. 

"Fight me!" Roman shouted, slashing at Janus a second time.

Janus sighed dramatically. "I guess if I must be the villain, I should play the part." His face shifted to a cold, cruel look that chilled Roman to the bone.

Janus was a skilled fighter, more skilled than anybody that Roman had gone up against. He fought with a vigor, a passion that Roman admired. But Roman was tired, and Janus' passion had given him an advantage. Janus slashed his sword at Roman, who had little time to respond. The sword flew out of the prince's hand and out of his reach. His enemy kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling on the ground, air knocked out of his lungs. When he tried to get up, Roman was greeted with the tip of Janus' sword pressed up against his throat.

"Surrender," Janus said. Roman glared up the blade at the snake. 

"Never." Janus sighed and smacked Roman with the side of the blade, careful not to draw blood. Then he sheathed his sword and turned to walk away.

Roman was confused, just a few seconds ago, Janus was fighting as if he was out for blood. 

"Why won't you finish this?" Roman shouted. It wasn't that he wanted to die, he just wanted to know why his enemy wasn't acting like the bad guy.

"Because I'm tired of acting like the villain in your story. I want a new part. Like I said, I just want to survive in a grey world. You live in a black and white world so you refuse to acknowledge the fact that maybe I'm not evil. You just needed someone to hate so that you'd be the hero."

"You're wrong." Roman stood up, the action taking effort. Tired and bruised, swordless and unable to fight.

Janus turned back around, facing the prince. "Tell me oh great hero, have you ever done something that you're ashamed of. A fairy tale hero would never do anything worth shame."

"I never claimed that a person needed to be perfect." Janus scoffed at that and walked over so that he was in arm's reach of Roman. Roman could easily throw a punch, but for some reason, he didn't. He just studied Janus, who reached over and absentmindedly touched Roman's cheek gently.

"Not on purpose you didn't." 

Janus left Roman, standing there, alone and defeated. Questioning all that he knew.

* * *

Roman tried to get Janus out of his head and off of his mind, but the snake was stuck there. Roman kept telling himself that everything Janus had said we're lies, that he was just trying to confuse Roman. But part of Roman believed him. Maybe Roman was looking at life all wrong, maybe there was more than meets the eye. Maybe Roman's standards were impossibly high.

"I need to see him again, to fight him, to get answers." 

Roman was so confused, and not just about the whole black and white deal, but also about Janus. If he wasn't the villain in Roman's story, then who was he to Roman? Was he just another person that Roman would one day forget about? Would Janus and him continue to hate each other forever? The more Roman thought about it, the less he wanted to hate Janus, and the more he realized that he never actually did. 

It was a while before the two crossed paths again. They saw each other and it was as if time seemed to stop. Janus drew his sword, prepared for the fight that he was so sure was to come. But Roman made no move to fight.

"Who are you? To me, I mean. Who are you to me?"

Janus smiled, one that wasn't cold or malicious. "I'm whoever you want me to be. Your enemy I guess, that's the role you've handed to me."

Roman shook his head. "No, you're not my enemy. I've realized that now." He watched as Janus put his sword away, registered the curious look Janus was giving him.

"What I mean is, you were right. Life isn't black and white and I've been a fool."

"You haven't been a fool for believing in something. Ignorant, yes. But a fool? Not in the slightest." Janus' words, his voice, Roman couldn't get enough of them. Smooth and sweet like molasses, but with a sharp undertone that Roman associated with rum. 

"You were right though, the world is so grey. But it's also not just monochrome. It's lovely, full of color. I see that now, how unique everything is. Not just black and white." Roman scoffed at himself, understanding that his words probably didn't make sense.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Janus pressed. 

"Change I guess. What else is there to do?" Janus was now standing right in front of Roman. Roman remembered how Janus had reached out, touched Roman's face. He wanted that, to feel Janus' gloved hands again, delicate and graceful. 

"Why did you play the part? As my villain. You didn't believe in what I did, yet you indulged me for the longest time." Roman didn't miss the fact that it took a minute for Janus to respond.

"I guess I enjoyed being around you. Though your worldview was insufferable, you were not. And if fighting you was what it took, then I was willing to do that."

Roman smiled. "Are you saying you loved me Janus?" The two were now just a few inches apart, they had been coming closer to each other this entire time, neither one of them actually realizing it.

"I said no such thing."

"But you thought it."

"You can't prove a thing"

Without even thinking about it, Roman closed the small gap, grabbing Janus' face and bringing it to meet his. It was warm, almost magical. Roman knew he had made the right choice when Janus kissed him back.

"You fiend," Janus whispered when they pulled apart. "Kissing me like that without asking permission."

"Would you have denied me that permission?" Roman asked, his eyebrow quirked. Janus smirked.

"I don't think I would have." This time it was Janus who pulled the other in for the kiss, this one more gentle, more graceful. Just like Janus. 

"What kind of sick joke is it that we spent this entire time at each other's throats only to end up here?" Roman asked. 

"The sickest of jokes. And yet, I don't mind all that much." Roman laughed.

"Neither do I."

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> I got an idea in my head and after an afternoon of writing, this was what I had to show. I hope you guys like it!  
> I don't know if it's a fantasy au or something else. But the boys have swords and I love nothing more than the gay tension that swords radiate.   
> Thank you for reading it! ☺️  
> Turtle 🐢


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